SEKLu.Y, ALFRED J. :x-sf; o ccd "r ct" lit ion. :, 1 ".. i c U t,. a

Transcription

1 SEKLu.Y, ALFRED J. A ; < :x-sf; o ccd "r ct" lit ion :, 1 ".. i c U t,. a

2 ALFRED J. INTERVIEW. An interview with Alfred J. Seeley, Indian. 298 miles southwest of the city of ".ilburton* Okla. By, Bradley Bolinger, Field V/orker. May 7, EARLY INDIAN DAYb. My father *'s name WJB John See ley. I was born around what is known, now as Panola, and have lived'ln what is'latimer County for 67 years. There w-s no "town in this whole country wl^en I was growing up. Just a trading post where all the ^ country did what tradinp they had to do. were not many vvhite people lived here then. There The Choctaw, Oklahoma &J3ulf. Rail Road came through this country around 1890 I believe. Later, it was taken over by the hock Island H. : *. Corapany\ There was an ola Grist Mill run- by a man named Loveless. ' The settlers woalu have to travel \ both ways around, 40 miles in^a vrafon or horseback, to pet their meal ground. -I lived 18 miles from this mill. 2te had one race track. That is about all the pleasure '-re ha\i-in those aays, and an Indian \' ball game or an Inalan stomp dance sometimes. I \ used to have a pretty go^d pony that I carried to

3 8BELE1T, AfcFKSD J. INTERVIEW. 299 the faces. 'get there. Had to ride it abou.t 30 ra.iles to Had some good luck and some bad luok. I have made a visit, or two to the Indian Court House tliat war> located <ibout 3 mi lea southwest of where the town of vvilburton is now located. There w^s not" much ih\v in this Country then. of the officers v/ere of Indian blood - nd ^ere only looking after the behavior of the Indian tribe, and.they were pretty rou h on them sometimes. The Court House t»ae situ-ted on v/ba't is known, as Bandy Creek now. The Indians of this country trusted each other whether they 7?ere in trouble or not. I visited the Indian Court House the day Mitchell Anderson wcis executed for killing another Indian. They had the Judge and Jury^ all full blood "Indians. The prisoner was.tried and" found guilty. He wns allowed to ralk around the Court House rrounds wherever he pleased until the next morning when he was to be shot for the murder of the other Indian. He stayed around the Court House and yard with but.little V7atchingjinlil^bhe_next evening,

4 SEELSTY, ALFRED «J. INTERVIEW,, 300 when,the sheriff brought out a kind of a blanket and laid it on the ground* The prisoner was still loose there-in the court yard, and the sheriff -called him. The prisoner vralkea u v ~ and laid down on the blanket, the sheriff took off his shirt and marked a spot right over the ' prisoner's heart. Then the prisoner raised up to a sitting position. One deputy Indian sheriff held the right arm v of the rrisou, i Ltrafgh.t in'the same manner. The Indian sheriff backed away-from the prisoner about 13 yards, and used his pers"onal«revolver and shot the nrisoner centering the ' little spot that v/as put on his breast. The prison er was /&ead almost at once. The Indians ^hea they caught another Indian ptealing, took them to the Indian sheriff and tried f them.?.t the Court House. If they were guilty, two Indian deputies would take him by the. arms nnd.-..arch him out in the yard and put him against a- tree with his arms stretched out* in front of him and held, by each deputy..it was the sheriffs duty to perform the vshipping arid he did. fthen a man violated the Indian Law in those days, they did not wait long to try him. He was

5 SEELEY, ALFRED J # 301 tried the first thing after hey caught him,'and 1 '; sentenced, when found guilty." The sentence was /' measured out immediately t after the prisoner was found p-ullty. / There wns a.?»tapjfe Line running ft on Fort Smith tfo -i place called then, Mountain Station. This is about 13.niles southwest of where burton now is*. They carried the mail in those days on horseback,/ as Mountain 2t*.tion was the first, post office to ooen in this,.,co»ihtr'y.'"'. I do not remember what year thnt was. -. I remember when Jack "ccurtain was Governor of the Choctaws, there war, suite a bit of stock / stealing in' tiiis country. This was done by whites and Indians. The v/frite man rjs the her.ci of the unlawfullness, and he nna^ed to ' et the Indi-n to^do the ob. * The Indian sheriff had no way to arrest the whites in this oountry then because he only delt with his. tribe ana the white man was pretty muoh his own boss r-hen it came to unlawfulness. But the-indian sheriff- kept pretty rood control of the Indians»»»******** ***»******9***ft*********b ****** *